Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Kohl’s. I received the included Carter’s clothes as compensation.

Believe it or not, back to school time is upon us. This means new school supplies, new teachers, new memories, and new clothes. Emma Kate is currently growing like a weed, so the clothes she wore last year are getting too small (and are also getting very worn out, she plays hard!) so it was time for some back to school shopping.

Kohl’s has an amazing Carter’s collection at great prices. I couldn’t believe the amount of things I was able to get for Emma Kate for under $200, two pair of shoes included! Not to mention, between 8/4-8/20, there is a 40-50% off sale on Carter’s playwear.

As Emma Kate has gotten older, she has also gotten more opinionated. Gone are the days of me dressing her in whatever I want, she wants some say in her outfits! With my help, we chose some fun things for back to school. I think you will see a trend here of graphic tees, tunics, and pink. I love the current styles and that I have a trendy kid. I asked her to pick out her three favorite outfits for a photoshoot to showcase the line of back to school clothes at Kohl’s, and this is what we got.

Since it’s warm most of the year in Florida, I did a lot of short sleeve tops, with just a few pants. I love how light and airy this palm tree top is, and the stretchy pink shorts are perfect for mobility in play.

Next we went with something a little more dressed up which would be an adorable first day of school outfit. I love these long tunics in more neutral colors. You can pair any color or pattern of pants or leggings with them to make even more outfits.

When it gets cool we can even put a long sleeve shirt underneath and still wear the tunic. I love versatile clothes!

This little girl loves a fun skirt or dress, so I was excited to find these pants with an attached skirt and an adorable “Daddy’s Girl” shirt that went with it. I chose these grey shoes because again, she can pair them with any color outfit!

In addition to these three outfits, I was able to get so much more. I couldn’t believe I was able to get an entire wardrobe and shoes for so little!

Don’t forget, you can shop Carter’s at Kohl’s August 4th-20th and get 40-50% off their playwear selection. Also, you can get $10 off $50 spent – Sales Dates are: 8/4 – 8/20 (Promo code: BTS10) Happy shopping!

QOTD: Do you love or loathe back to school shopping?

My blog may contain links to other websites. I am not responsible for the privacy policies of those websites. When you click on a link, your information may be collected by those websites so I encourage you to read their privacy policies.

If you missed part one and part two, be sure to read them first then come back for this installment!

We were already checked in at the four seasons, so we left our stuff with bell services and walked over to the UA Brand House. I had NO idea what this was, so Jami told us about this amazing one of a kind store. It is right on the harbor, and sells a ton of amazing Under Armour gear. You can find UA gear at outlets, and other sporting goods stores…but they don’t have stand alones, but the brand house…ah…it’s amazing.

When we arrived, the employees were waiting for us and did a little cheer for us, it was so kind of them, I loved them right away.

Not sure what I was saying here, but it was obviously pretty funny.

We were then handed gift cards and told to go shopping! Um…..don’t have to tell this girl twice! Under Armour had already been So generous I was not expecting this at all. I will admit, I was slightly overwhelmed because there was SO much to look at in this store.

The super sweet employees had already pulled some items for each of us in our size based on what they thought we would like after reading about all of us. How COOL is that, they went above and beyond, so, so sweet.

After we knew what they had already pulled for us, we did a little browsing around with the help of the employees.

Bought those shorts too. I look slightly overwhelmed here…

Did I mention the dressing rooms? AMAZING. Looks like I am in a gym right? Nope! dressing room. Of COURSE I want to see what I will look like in my new gear at the gym…makes perfect sense. Why didn’t I think of this?

Ended up buying these stretch woven capris. Love.

Loooovveee this outfit. It’s my favorite.

I had to “fake run” in it to test it out….please tell me you do this, too?

Got this outfit too. LOVE these capris and the top can be adjusted at the waistband.

GIRL POWER! #IWILL

We had loads of fun, but eventually we did have to check out and go get ready for dinner. Apparently I stand like this all the time.

Before we left, we took a group photos with the awesome staff, and then us gals took some shots.

Tasha, me, Kasey, Electra

We headed back to the hotel and brought our bags up to our rooms. Tasha and I shared a room, and were greeted with super cute UA/Baltimore baskets on our beds. So thoughtful!

We had an amazing room which I will tell you more about in another post.

We quickly got ready for dinner and walked to a Greek restaurant down the block where we were greeted with a lovely table open to the outside. This southern girl is NOT used to being able to eat outside in August and not die of a heat stroke or be swarmed by bugs in the process of said heat stroke.

We shared some appetizers, and I ordered grilled chicken that was delicious.

We laughed, we talked, we had a great time, and didn’t get back to the hotel until about 11:00!

We headed straight to bed, another big day was to be had, with yoga in the morning. Trust me, you WON’T won’t to miss those photos from this non-yogi.

QOTD: Have you ever stayed a the Four Seasons? What would you buy at the UA Brand House?

Photo credit to the talented Matt Ryb! He followed us around the Brand House and got some great shots!

Happy Holiday weekend! Who is still eating leftovers from Thursday? Last night we ate our fourth meal off of our Thanksgiving spread from lunch. It’s so nice not having to cook! It has been a great weekend so far, I am really enjoying having Bobby home for a couple extra days.

Yesterday morning we went to bed at 3:00 after black Friday shopping. Oh yes you read that right. While some were waking up for shopping, we were just going to bed! All day Thursday I tried to take a nap because I knew I would be out late but no dice. We left about 10:00 and headed to the local outlet mall, but first we drove by Best Buy which was not opening for two more hours. I know these pictures are blurry, but you get the idea. The line wrapped almost ALL THE WAY AROUND THE BUILDING!

We of course did not stand in line. That was one of the great things about our shopping trip, there was nothing we just HAD to have so it wasn’t stressful. Ok so back to the outlet mall. Half the stores opened at 10:00 and the other half at 11:00, and I was NOT anticipating the masses of people that we encountered. The line of cars trying to pull into the parking lot was quite indicative of how the stores were.

We first hit up J Crew and the line was wrapped halfway around the store. Bobby got some boxers and went ahead and got in line while I finished shopping. Then I handed him my clothes and headed to the next store to start shopping and trying on, and then he met me there. It worked out really well for us and he was so sweet to stand in line for me.

After J Crew I headed to Ann Taylor and then we went to Banana Republic which didn’t open until 11, so we had to wait in line outside.

It opened about five minutes later, and we shopped and then I headed to Gap while Bobby stood in line again. I found a really cute shirt I liked and saw the line had about 40 people in it. I immediately put the shirt back. Saving 25% on one shirt is not enticing enough to make me stand in line for 30 minutes!

We headed to the food court and got a snack and rested for a few minutes. We soon had to shop more because I was getting very sleepy just sitting. (Remember, we got up at 6 that morning and ran a 5k turkey trot!) We walked around a couple more stores but the lines were just getting longer and longer so we decided to leave. Bobby wanted to go to the other Best Buy (there are two close to our house) so I agreed because I was curious to see just how crazy it was.

The parking lot was crazy (shared with other stored like Target, Dick’s, Kohls, etc.) and there was still a short line outside. We only had to wait about five minutes, and it made me think about the TV shows you see where people are waiting outside of a club to go inside, ha. Anyway, we finally got inside and it was very crowded. The line to check out wrapped around half the store then looped back again. They had aisles blocked off by TV boxes to create makeshift lines.

Bobby, started talking to an employee about picking up an item he had bought and paid for online. (Apparently when he bought it the site told him he could pick it up in store.) So then I find out this is my main Christmas gift, and so I was going to get it now instead of Christmas morning because logistically it just wouldn’t work out any other way. Ok, I didn’t really understand, but I went with it. We were given a pick up slip and told to drive around the back to get the item. We were SO happy we didn’t have to wait in the two hour line to pick it up!

So the item gets put in the back of the vehicle, and then Bobby tells me I can turn around and look.

Wwhhhaaaa? a 60” smart tv?! Crazy! Apparently he got it for 50% off. We had been talking about getting another TV because the one in the bedroom is an old box TV I had when I graduated high school. So we put the flat screen from the bonus room in the bedroom and the new one in the bonus room. So, I got my gift early, and we got it all set up yesterday before the LSU game.

Do I have the best husband or what? I can’t believe he was able to get it for 50% off. What a great deal! Ok so let me back track a little. So we get home with the TV and have to get it out of the car and up the staircase that has two turns in it. That box was so heavy (one of the reasons he had to tell me about it, so I could help him get it inside.) As we were trying to drag the thing up the stairs, I kept yelling “PIVOT! PIVOT!” from the Friends episode where Ross and Rachel are trying to get the couch upstairs. It was a riot, so funny, and at 2:30 in the morning everything is funny.

So we finally fell asleep at three and I was so hoping to sleep in, but I woke up wide awake at 7:15. After a little over 4 hours of sleep. I decided to get up and go do a little solo shopping. I hit up Kohls and did some Christmas shopping and also got some new boots at Shoe Carnival. The stores were crowded but not as bad as the night before. Luckily there were enough workers at the stores so there was no waiting. I did get annoyed when I saw a woman in Kohl’s with a Target shopping cart. Really? Target is in a building way away in a separate parking lot. Girlfriend really wanted a buggy. (yes, I call it a buggy. No laughing, please.)

I of course watched LSU destroy Arkansas yesterday afternoon, and then Bobby helped me start on the outside Christmas decorations. It got dark so I didn’t get to finish, but plan to this morning. I can’t ait to show yall the decorations they are really looking great. It was a fun, relaxing day with my little family. Later we are driving to Louisiana to see my parents for some more fun!

GYMBOSS INTERVAL TIMER WINNER

A big thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway. If you didn’t win, you can still buy your own timer on the Gymboss website. The winner of the giveaway is

Howdy! Sadly, today’s post will wrap up the “overview” recaps from Healthy Living Summit. Don’t worry, I still have a lot to share with you about things I learned in the sessions, etc, so never fear, you won’t have to wonder what was said/learned in Philly this weekend.

Well….There were so many of us and a ton of crosswalks, so we made it kind of a fun walk to the “Rocky steps.”

and we’re walking….we’re walking…

LOVE!

Love?

LLLOOOVVEEE these awesome ladies!

Courtney, Julie, me, Allison, and Tina! Had great conversations with ALL of them this weekend. I heart blogger conferences.

Where’s Waldo? Brownie points to whoever can find me!

Bloggers are awesome! I totally stole this pic from the HLS Facebook page (by the way, fellow HLS attendees, feel free to “borrow’ any of my photos from the weekend!)

ooohhh do you see what I see? I will give you a hint:

Eye of the Tiger is totally playing in my head right now.

I got to run up the steps!

and geek out like a totally nerdy tourist.

After having a total FAIL trying to take jumping pictures on the steps (check out Stephanie’s blog for fail shots) We were happy to see that a lot of people had decided to RUN back to complete our 5k fun run. We kept a good pace (I think we were all starving!) and headed to brunch at the hotel. No lie, I was so hungry I took no pics. But it was good. I also got to chat with the Together Counts folks who sponsored the fun run!

Everyone went to shower (we all smelled wonderful by this point. Sorry staff of the Marriott!) and pack up. I SOMEHOW miraculously fit all of my swag into my suitcase I had carried on. I may or may not have had to sit on the thing to close it…..

We met up with some of the girls with later flights to grab lunch at the Reading Terminal Market. I settled on a yummy turkey sandwich!

For dessert, we hit up the Flying Monkey (the Wizard of Oz freaks me out to this day so I was a it skeptical…) Kelly and I split some sort of Smoreo thing which ended up being a good but VERY sticky marshmallow and Oreo concoction. We had our fingers all over this joker, good thing we like each other. HA!

Blurry picture FAIL

Sticky fingers!

It was so fun walking through the terminal seeing several purple shirts!

Everyone else had to go to the airport, so it was sad to say goodbye, but Stephanie and I had flights at the same time (after 6:00) so we had planned on hanging out for the afternoon together! Look how hilarious this is…I am squatting and she is on her toes, bahhaha!

We ended up walking down to some stores so Stephanie could buy some work clothes.

I gave her my opinion as she tried on different outfits. She got a lot of cute stuff for cheap at H&M. We saw the weather was getting dark after that, and decided to head to the airport and use the free WiFi to blog and hang out. We got there before the rain started, stood in a crazy long security line, and found a random empty gate with outlets to plug in at and blogged away.

BOTH our flights ended up being delayed, but I finally made it back to NOLA and to my parents at 9:45 last night, then made the final leg of my journey home this morning. WHEW! What a fun but exhausting weekend. I already can’t wait till next year! (and to load my Google Reader down with new blogs to read! eeekk!)

CRAZY story of the day:

So, we are sitting at this random gate with a flight going to LA, and a couple walks up that looks really familiar. I look at the guy and point, and he sees me and smiles and nods. I get up and go over, and the guy gives me a hug. His wife was totally confused, then it hit her finally…..Two weeks ago remember I was stranded in Charlotte overnight at Jen’s house and then left Charlotte the next morning? Well, that day I stood in a LONG line at security and befriended the couple in line behind me. It was a nice couple going to Rome, they had been stranded overnight in Charlotte when their flight to Rome was cancelled. They were from LA. They were super sweet and I wished them luck and a good trip. So…yeah. IT WAS THE SAME COUPLE! what are the odds I would ever see them again…they were coming home from their Rome trip and I was on a TOTALLY different trip, at a RANDOM gate with a free outlet to blog. It totally made my day, it was the COOLEST thing! I still don’t even know their names, but it sounded like they had a great trip!

Ok so that is it for my HLS highlights, but come back to learn more about what the sessions were about Saturday at the conference! Now, back to normalcy….for now!

QOTD: Have you ever had anything random ever happen to you like I did a the airport? What is a topic you would love to learn more about at a blogger conference?

Hi! I am Heather Montgomery, formerly known as Running With Sass®, a 32 year old living in Tampa, Florida with my husband and 3.5 year old daughter. I’m just a regular girl who likes to run, travel, go to Disney World, and eat junk food.
Thank you for visiting my blog! Feel free to contact me, (or for PR inquiries or press trip invites) at [email protected]